I promised myself I would never do this, but I'm breaking my promise.

I wanted to ask this specific community if this sounds like schizophrenia, I never wanted to ask because I didn't want to undermine or patronize you guys. Anyways, I am 23 years old. I have had OCD my entire life. A year and a half ago my OCD got really bad and I started obsessing and through panic attacks I developed PTSD and Depersonalization Disorder. But I am starting to doubt that is is Depersonalization disorder and might be early psychosis. My DP has steadily gotten worse over the last year, I have had horrible obsessions with existential thoughts. I felt like I was dreaming, I even had a symptom where I was scared of reality itself because the fact that we existed scared me. But about a month ago I developed an even more concerning symptom. It started with dreaming everynight.. Intense vivid dreams. Then one night I was watching a movie and I was falling asleep, something strange happened. Half way between sleep and consciousness I started dreaming, dreaming before I was asleep! I felt like I was in the movie I was watching! But I was still slightly awake. I had a panic attack and started obsessing over that symptom a lot. And since its gotten worse, coupled with my DP I am suffering from a particular feeling i can't describe. Its like a mix between Deja Vu and intense day dreaming.. Anything triggers this feeling and it usually only lasts seconds. Smells, pictures, sometimes nothing at all can trigger it. Sometimes its past memories i feel like I'm reliving, sometimes its completely new things. I will try my best to describe. The other day I was driving in my car and felt the warm air on my arm, I got this intense feeling like I was on the beach, somewhere tropical. I didn't LITERALLY see anything like an hallucination but almost. Like a delusion, I truly felt like I was there again. Its more a feeling, not an hallucination. But it makes me confused... Like i question where I am truly am and it makes me panic. Its been horrible since, I feel like I'm mixing my vivid dreams with reality. These "day dream" feelings are now happening multiple times a day, I feel like I'm truly somewhere else but I'm not? Also, sometimes these feelings are mixed with a dark and sinister vibe to them? Like maybe I died and I'm in Hell and this is isn't realty. Just an intense feeling... that makes me feel confused and panic, because I am scared I'm losing my mind, becoming delusional... developing schizophrenia..What do you guys think?

[CANDC]

Hi SW. Sorry you are facing challenges. It is difficult for professionals to diagnose accurately after 3 or more 45 minute sessions face to face, so self diagnosis or online diagnosis is prone to error.

Best thing to do is see a therapist and a psych doc and try to get meds and talk therapy to help keep you feeling stable.

Sleep is one of the most important ways to deal with challenges. I used to come home from school and take a nap I was so stressed after school. Sleeping can make a big difference. But sleeping too much can be a sign of depression. How are you sleeping?

In the meantime, lifestyle changes can give a little boost. Here are some of the things that help me. I have to watch what I eat because foods I eat can stabilize my moods or exaggerate them. A high protein low carb diet with snacks or meals every 3-4 hours will over time reduce my swings. I also avoid alcohol and recreational drugs because those can really increase depression.

Other lifestyle changes that help me are doing yoga, exercises, mindfulness, calm music, and being active on Psych Central.

We cannot diagnosis something like this. We aren't really suppose to give our opinions. I only can say something like that a health care professional would have to help you out with what is really going on. In the meantime i wish you the best... blessings and tc